Team News at Kerith Bracknell

If you were with us on Sunday 5th Feb you’ll know that Simon, our Senior Pastor, shared an update on Kerith Bracknell’s leadership as we near the end of an interim period of compassionate working arrangements, set in place last August for our Site Pastor, Pelumi. Beccy and Ben Oliver have been interim site pastors since then, and that period was set to last until the end of February 2023. Well, we’re nearly there - so what’s happening next?!

Firstly, Pastor Pelumi is returning! We’re delighted that although Pelumi has been a great asset to our Experience Team in the interim period, Bracknell is getting him back again from the second week of March (after a trip back to Nigeria to see family and friends)! Pelumi has been walking a hard journey very faithfully and with wonderful support since Rachel’s passing last year. That’s not complete, of course, but he does feel ready to return and will be stepping back into leadership responsibilities from the second week in March.

Secondly, we’re not losing Beccy, who is staying as Site Pastor, too. It’s a first for Kerith to have two Site Pastors working side-by-side like this. One of the things we’ve learned since Covid and our increasing numbers is that there’s just too much for one person to hold alone. So we’ll have two Site Pastors, sharing the load and working together with the teams they’ll lead between them. Both Beccy and Pelumi will be around on Sundays as part of our big gatherings, and they’ll share which of them holds responsibilities for which teams with those teams in the coming days and weeks. We’re really excited at the combination potential of these two leaders and pastors! Please be praying for them (as we did on Sunday) as they step up to working together for us.

Thank you, Ida Astley, for the photo!!

Ben remains as our sole Bracknell-based Elder (we’ll need some more of those!) and will be around on Sundays - although we’ll be back to sharing him with other Kerith sites as his Executive Pastor role takes him elsewhere, too. Simon gave a big “Thank you” to both Ben and Beccy for stepping into this interim period and leading us through so well.

There are other changes afoot on other sites, too. To hear about this AND what’s happening in Farnborough and elsewhere, join our Vision Night on Zoom on Sunday with folks from across all of the Kerith sites. You should receive the link to join us via a Churchsuite email. If you have any issues, please email info@kerith.church and we’ll send it out to you.

I do have one more set of Bracknell changes for you before I sign off. This is about Kerith Kids in Bracknell.

You may already know, Monique, our Kids Coordinator, is leaving Kerith's paid team to make space for a full-time role with an events company (she’s going to be planning a lot of weddings, apparently!!). We’re delighted for her and for Waldo, as they start this new chapter - although somewhat sad to lose her from the team. Monique has been on team for just over a year, and we’re really grateful to her for overseeing our Kids Teams in Bracknell during that time. We’ve been praying for her and Waldo in our Kids Team times over recent weeks - and will continue to do so.

That has left a role available in our team, and we're delighted to say that Jo Foster is going to take up the position, moving across from the same role on our Windsor site. Jo is also permanently taking up the central role of Kids Champion, with oversight for Kerith Kids across all our Kerith Sites, in addition to being the Kids Coordinator in Bracknell. (She has been doing this second role on an interim basis for the past few months and we are delighted to make this permanent, too.)

Jo will join us in Bracknell with her husband Steve. They have lived in Bracknell for many years now and have 3 teenage sons. She has a huge passion for children to know Jesus and has much experience in children's ministry. Until recently she ran New Wine Kids, and this year is running the 8-11s Wildfires Kids venue. She also just graduated as a Master of Theology, Ministry and Mission - Children, Young People and Family Specialists. A keen runner and an amazing baker – Kerith Kids is in very good hands with Jo!

Jo is joining us also at the start of March and is looking forward to meeting you all on Sundays.

Please also be praying for Monique and for Jo as they both make these role transitions in the coming weeks.